“As a data processing cooperative, our national efforts are intended to encourage more credit unions to value their charters as financial cooperatives, and to get involved with the NCBA to expand the power of both credit unions and CUSOs,” Karnes said in an announcement from the CUSO on Monday.

“I would like to add our voice to the NCBA and our firm’s technical capabilities to spreading the word,” he said.

If Karnes is elected, he will be part of a growing credit union industry presence on the board.

Other NCBA CLUSA board members representing credit unions include CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney; Joseph Bergeron, president of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions; Lois Kitsch, national program manager for the National Credit Union Foundation, and Christopher Roe, senior vice president for CUNA Mutual.

The board election will take place at the NCBA’s Nov. 12 annual business meeting, scheduled to be held as part of the NCBA CLUSA Annual Cooperatives Conference in Washington, D.C.

The group said it is the nation’s oldest and largest cooperative business association.